The judicial magistrate, defeated in the curricular contest to fill the position of president of the CNE for alleged "irregularities", said that if he is declared the legitimate president of the body, he will not perform "miracles, but would apply the Constitution and the law to make the body more transparent". .
"But, above all, there are other vices, I think the problem of the CNE also has a lot to do with excessive partisanship, the CNE cannot have the composition it has and above all because the problems emigrate from the National Assembly to the CNE", he said. at a press conference.
Agostinho Santos demands from the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSMJ) the refund of 47 points, which he says were "illegally withdrawn" by this body, within the scope of the curricular competition to fill the post of president of the CNE.
The contest, promoted by the CSMJ, took place in 2019 and was approved on January 25, 2020, having been declared the winner Manuel Pereira da Silva, current president of the electoral body.
Judge Manuel Pereira da Silva was sworn in by parliament as president of the CNE, on 19 February 2020, amidst many protests by the opposition and civil society that accuse him of "lack of moral and legal suitability" for the position. .
This Wednesday, when asked if he will be legitimized as president of the CNE, Agostinho Santos assured that the body "will be different from the one that Manuel Pereira da Silva personifies at this moment".
"I understand that the CNE is a noble institution, or it should be, the CNE is an institution that represents the democratic soul in our country, we cannot talk about the democratic and lawful State without free and fair elections, we cannot falsify the electoral results. ", he stressed.
The magistrate added: "If I am declared legally and legitimately president of the CNE, returning the points that were illegally taken from me, then we will speak better than I think about the CNE".
"At this time, one of the vices of this body is the excessive partisanship, from my point of view there should not even be a party militant in the CNE, it should create any body that could perhaps supervise the CNE, but that did not have the intervention with commissioners we have today," he said.
For the also retired judge of the Constitutional Court, where he lodged several appeals of unconstitutionality on the electoral process of the CNE, the issue of the commissioners of political parties "does not help with the impartiality, fairness and transparency" of the electoral body.
"Because, everyone who is there will want to pull the trigger for his sardine, he cannot be a referee being a player, therefore the refoundation of the CNE is necessary", concluded Agostinho Santos.
The Angolan CNE is composed of 17 members, namely a judicial magistrate, who presides over the body appointed by the CSMJ, and 16 citizens appointed by the National Assembly, by an absolute majority of the deputies in office, on the proposal of political parties and coalitions of parties with parliamentary seat, obeying the principles of majority and respect for parliamentary minorities.
